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Your mileage may vary depending on your CRM, but reports should be created to exclude pledges and only include paid donations. When a pledge is paid for, you change the status on the donation to "posted" or "completed" or something to that effect, and during report creation, carefully include only those donations with status reflective of having been paid fully. *Medha Nanal* *Strategic Data & CRM Consulting for Nonprofit & Education Organizations* (Fundraising/Advancement, Programs, Operations, Communications) 650-600-9374 www.topcloudconsult.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Fri, Aug 16, 2019 at 11:17 AM Dotson, Michael <MIDOTSON@augusta.edu> wrote: > We use RE 7 and we code DAF payments with an attribute to permit us to > exclude them from fundraising reports. > > > > > > [image: cid:image001.png@01D18E89.6C83DD60] > > *Michael S. Dotson, Ph.D., bCRE-Pro* > > Senior Director of Advancement Services > > Office of Advancement > > AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY > > 1120 15th Street, FI-1045 > > Augusta, GA 30912 > > t: 706-721-0063 > > f: 706-721-1641 > > > > Help make our data even better – send updates to ADVOPS@augusta.edu. > > > > *This e-mail and its attachments are confidential, intended only for the > named recipient(s) above, and may contain information that is proprietary. > If you have received this message in error or are not a named recipient, > please notify the sender immediately at the above number and delete the > e-mail message from your computer. Thank you.* > > > > > > > > *From:* Advancement Services Discussion List < > FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> *On Behalf Of *Nancy Randazzo > *Sent:* Friday, August 16, 2019 1:40 PM > *To:* FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG > *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] [FUNDSVCS] DAF payments and double counting > > > CAUTION: EXTERNAL SENDER > > *This email originated from an external source. Please exercise caution > before opening attachments, clicking links, replying, or providing > information to the sender. If you believe it to be fraudulent, contact the > AU Cybersecurity Hotline at 1-SAFE (706-721-7233) or stopspam@augusta.edu > <stopspam@augusta.edu>* > > > ------------------------------ > > Friends, > > > > We have recently been looking at the effect of writing down pledges when > an unanticipated payment from a donor’s DAF comes in. When the pledge is > counted and reported in one fiscal year and the DAF contribution is > received during the next fiscal year, if we write down or cancel the > original pledge and count the DAF contribution, some or all of the original > pledge is counted twice. While the overall numbers year over year are > accurate, the reporting for the year in which the original pledge was > booked remains overstated. > > > > Example: Pledge booked in FY18 and we don’t expect it to be > paid with DAF - $50K counted in annual fundraising total for FY18 > > DAF “pays” pledge in FY19 – original > pledge canceled, $50K from DAF counted in annual fundraising total for FY19 > > > > How do others handle this? > > > > *Nancy* > > > > *Nancy Randazzo* > > Director, Gift and Fund Administration > > *University of Montana Foundation * > > Office: 406.243.2593 | Direct: 406.243-4739 > > *CampaignMontana.org* <https://www.campaignmontana.org/>* | Think Big. Be > Bold.* > > > > *The UM Foundation inspires philanthropic support to enhance excellence > and opportunity at the University of Montana.* > > > > CONFIDENTIALITY: This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain > confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized > disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, > please notify the sender and delete this e-mail from your system. Thank you. > > >

If you have a way in your CRM to apply a third party payment to the pledge, there may be no need to write the pledge down. -Bill From: Advancement Services Discussion List <FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> On Behalf Of Nancy Randazzo Sent: Friday, August 16, 2019 1:40 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: [FUNDSVCS] DAF payments and double counting [EXTERNAL EMAIL] WARNING: This email originated from outside of SCAD. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Friends, We have recently been looking at the effect of writing down pledges when an unanticipated payment from a donor's DAF comes in. When the pledge is counted and reported in one fiscal year and the DAF contribution is received during the next fiscal year, if we write down or cancel the original pledge and count the DAF contribution, some or all of the original pledge is counted twice. While the overall numbers year over year are accurate, the reporting for the year in which the original pledge was booked remains overstated. Example: Pledge booked in FY18 and we don't expect it to be paid with DAF - $50K counted in annual fundraising total for FY18 DAF "pays" pledge in FY19 - original pledge canceled, $50K from DAF counted in annual fundraising total for FY19 How do others handle this? Nancy Nancy Randazzo Director, Gift and Fund Administration University of Montana Foundation Office: 406.243.2593 | Direct: 406.243-4739 <https://www.campaignmontana.org/> CampaignMontana.org | Think Big. Be Bold. The UM Foundation inspires philanthropic support to enhance excellence and opportunity at the University of Montana. CONFIDENTIALITY: This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete this e-mail from your system. Thank you.

I’d be surprised to learn that many Advancement offices work this way. My experience has been exactly the opposite. We count pledges and ignore the payments on those pledges. That way, we give staff credit for the work they’ve done in the timeframes in which they did the work.—Bill ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Your mileage may vary depending on your CRM, but reports should be created to exclude pledges and only include paid donations. When a pledge is paid for, you change the status on the donation to "posted" or "completed" or something to that effect, and during report creation, carefully include only those donations with status reflective of having been paid fully. Medha Nanal Strategic Data & CRM Consulting for Nonprofit & Education Organizations (Fundraising/Advancement, Programs, Operations, Communications) 650-600-9374 <http://www.topcloudconsult.com/> www.topcloudconsult.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Fri, Aug 16, 2019 at 11:17 AM Dotson, Michael <MIDOTSON@augusta.edu <mailto:MIDOTSON@augusta.edu> > wrote: We use RE 7 and we code DAF payments with an attribute to permit us to exclude them from fundraising reports. Michael S. Dotson, Ph.D., bCRE-Pro Senior Director of Advancement Services Office of Advancement AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY 1120 15th Street, FI-1045 Augusta, GA 30912 t: 706-721-0063 f: 706-721-1641 Help make our data even better – send updates to <mailto:ADVOPS@augusta.edu> ADVOPS@augusta.edu. This e-mail and its attachments are confidential, intended only for the named recipient(s) above, and may contain information that is proprietary. If you have received this message in error or are not a named recipient, please notify the sender immediately at the above number and delete the e-mail message from your computer. Thank you. From: Advancement Services Discussion List <FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG <mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> > On Behalf Of Nancy Randazzo Sent: Friday, August 16, 2019 1:40 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG <mailto:FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> Subject: [EXTERNAL] [FUNDSVCS] DAF payments and double counting CAUTION: EXTERNAL SENDER This email originated from an external source. Please exercise caution before opening attachments, clicking links, replying, or providing information to the sender. If you believe it to be fraudulent, contact the AU Cybersecurity Hotline at 1-SAFE (706-721-7233) or stopspam@augusta.edu <mailto:stopspam@augusta.edu> _____ Friends, We have recently been looking at the effect of writing down pledges when an unanticipated payment from a donor’s DAF comes in. When the pledge is counted and reported in one fiscal year and the DAF contribution is received during the next fiscal year, if we write down or cancel the original pledge and count the DAF contribution, some or all of the original pledge is counted twice. While the overall numbers year over year are accurate, the reporting for the year in which the original pledge was booked remains overstated. Example: Pledge booked in FY18 and we don’t expect it to be paid with DAF - $50K counted in annual fundraising total for FY18 DAF “pays” pledge in FY19 – original pledge canceled, $50K from DAF counted in annual fundraising total for FY19 How do others handle this? Nancy Nancy Randazzo Director, Gift and Fund Administration University of Montana Foundation Office: 406.243.2593 | Direct: 406.243-4739 <https://www.campaignmontana.org/> CampaignMontana.org | Think Big. Be Bold. The UM Foundation inspires philanthropic support to enhance excellence and opportunity at the University of Montana. CONFIDENTIALITY: This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete this e-mail from your system. Thank you.

Friends, We have recently been looking at the effect of writing down pledges when an unanticipated payment from a donor's DAF comes in. When the pledge is counted and reported in one fiscal year and the DAF contribution is received during the next fiscal year, if we write down or cancel the original pledge and count the DAF contribution, some or all of the original pledge is counted twice. While the overall numbers year over year are accurate, the reporting for the year in which the original pledge was booked remains overstated. Example: Pledge booked in FY18 and we don't expect it to be paid with DAF - $50K counted in annual fundraising total for FY18 DAF "pays" pledge in FY19 - original pledge canceled, $50K from DAF counted in annual fundraising total for FY19 How do others handle this? Nancy Nancy Randazzo Director, Gift and Fund Administration University of Montana Foundation Office: 406.243.2593 | Direct: 406.243-4739 CampaignMontana.org<https://www.campaignmontana.org/> | Think Big. Be Bold. The UM Foundation inspires philanthropic support to enhance excellence and opportunity at the University of Montana. CONFIDENTIALITY: This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete this e-mail from your system. Thank you.

Hi This is a counting nightmare! And we have not even mentioned DO credit, they get credit twice; or stewardship gone bad ..... This "sound" practice of reducing pledges, impacts donor relations because when you reduce a pledge commitment you cannot really tell the donor was able to make a single gift of $$, you can work around programmatically but you have to be on top of it. And If you do not have a strict record management control, you will be sending pledge reminders for payments that you did not reduce etc., etc. For us as an organization, we recognized the problem, agreed to correct it and, got leadership approval to handle this scenarios in a manner that Is not consistent with the CASE recommendation to reduce pledges. It took a great deal of change management, but we corrected the problems. We recognized that the risks of managing it differently were less than those we faced managing according to the CASE recommendation. We do not count DAF pledges as receivables in our financials but retain them as non-countable pledges in our CRM system, we then apply the incoming payments towards the pledge. Hard credit goes to the organization and soft credit goes to the donor. We certainly do not allow benefits with these types of contributions. I know keeping them as pledges and paying it via third parties is not the recommended practice, but the solution offered better donor relations and better transparency and accountability on our reporting, it really worked for us. __________ Adriana Bitoun Senior Director, Advancement services and Data Management The University of Cincinnati Foundation PO Box 19970 Cincinnati, OH 45219-0970 t 513-556-8917 | m 562-805-8815 | f 513-556-4304 uc.edu/foundation<http://uc.edu/foundation> From: Advancement Services Discussion List <FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> On Behalf Of Nancy Randazzo Sent: Friday, August 16, 2019 1:40 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: [FUNDSVCS] DAF payments and double counting Friends, We have recently been looking at the effect of writing down pledges when an unanticipated payment from a donor's DAF comes in. When the pledge is counted and reported in one fiscal year and the DAF contribution is received during the next fiscal year, if we write down or cancel the original pledge and count the DAF contribution, some or all of the original pledge is counted twice. While the overall numbers year over year are accurate, the reporting for the year in which the original pledge was booked remains overstated. Example: Pledge booked in FY18 and we don't expect it to be paid with DAF - $50K counted in annual fundraising total for FY18 DAF "pays" pledge in FY19 - original pledge canceled, $50K from DAF counted in annual fundraising total for FY19 How do others handle this? Nancy Nancy Randazzo Director, Gift and Fund Administration University of Montana Foundation Office: 406.243.2593 | Direct: 406.243-4739 CampaignMontana.org<https://www.campaignmontana.org/> | Think Big. Be Bold. The UM Foundation inspires philanthropic support to enhance excellence and opportunity at the University of Montana. CONFIDENTIALITY: This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete this e-mail from your system. Thank you.

We use RE 7 and we code DAF payments with an attribute to permit us to exclude them from fundraising reports. [cid:image001.png@01D18E89.6C83DD60] Michael S. Dotson, Ph.D., bCRE-Pro Senior Director of Advancement Services Office of Advancement AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY 1120 15th Street, FI-1045 Augusta, GA 30912 t: 706-721-0063 f: 706-721-1641 Help make our data even better - send updates to ADVOPS@augusta.edu<mailto:ADVOPS@augusta.edu>. This e-mail and its attachments are confidential, intended only for the named recipient(s) above, and may contain information that is proprietary. If you have received this message in error or are not a named recipient, please notify the sender immediately at the above number and delete the e-mail message from your computer. Thank you. From: Advancement Services Discussion List <FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> On Behalf Of Nancy Randazzo Sent: Friday, August 16, 2019 1:40 PM To: FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG Subject: [EXTERNAL] [FUNDSVCS] DAF payments and double counting CAUTION: EXTERNAL SENDER This email originated from an external source. Please exercise caution before opening attachments, clicking links, replying, or providing information to the sender. If you believe it to be fraudulent, contact the AU Cybersecurity Hotline at 1-SAFE (706-721-7233) or stopspam@augusta.edu<mailto:stopspam@augusta.edu> ________________________________ Friends, We have recently been looking at the effect of writing down pledges when an unanticipated payment from a donor's DAF comes in. When the pledge is counted and reported in one fiscal year and the DAF contribution is received during the next fiscal year, if we write down or cancel the original pledge and count the DAF contribution, some or all of the original pledge is counted twice. While the overall numbers year over year are accurate, the reporting for the year in which the original pledge was booked remains overstated. Example: Pledge booked in FY18 and we don't expect it to be paid with DAF - $50K counted in annual fundraising total for FY18 DAF "pays" pledge in FY19 - original pledge canceled, $50K from DAF counted in annual fundraising total for FY19 How do others handle this? Nancy Nancy Randazzo Director, Gift and Fund Administration University of Montana Foundation Office: 406.243.2593 | Direct: 406.243-4739 CampaignMontana.org<https://www.campaignmontana.org/> | Think Big. Be Bold. The UM Foundation inspires philanthropic support to enhance excellence and opportunity at the University of Montana. CONFIDENTIALITY: This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete this e-mail from your system. Thank you.

Bill, agreed. The trouble with pledge suppression strategies are numerous. For one, canned reports typically all need to be re-written, which can be hundreds of reports. For two, as you point out, from a stewardship perspective, what matters is converting donors and nailing down gift intentions. The mechanics of payment can't be allowed to wag this dog. Thank you, Isaac Shalev CRM Expert Sage70, Inc. (917) 859-0151 isaac@sage70.com Schedule a *30-minute consultation *now: https://calendly.com/sage70/30min On Fri, Aug 16, 2019 at 2:25 PM Bill Wong <wswong@scad.edu> wrote: > I’d be surprised to learn that many Advancement offices work this way. My > experience has been exactly the opposite. We count pledges and ignore the > payments on those pledges. That way, we give staff credit for the work > they’ve done in the timeframes in which they did the work.—Bill > > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > Your mileage may vary depending on your CRM, but reports should be created > to exclude pledges and only include paid donations. When a pledge is paid > for, you change the status on the donation to "posted" or "completed" or > something to that effect, and during report creation, carefully include > only those donations with status reflective of having been paid fully. > > > > *Medha Nanal* > > > > *Strategic Data & CRM Consulting for Nonprofit & Education Organizations* > > (Fundraising/Advancement, Programs, Operations, Communications) > > > > 650-600-9374 > > www.topcloudconsult.com > > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > > > > > On Fri, Aug 16, 2019 at 11:17 AM Dotson, Michael <MIDOTSON@augusta.edu> > wrote: > > We use RE 7 and we code DAF payments with an attribute to permit us to > exclude them from fundraising reports. > > > > > > [image: cid:image001.png@01D18E89.6C83DD60] > > *Michael S. Dotson, Ph.D., bCRE-Pro* > > Senior Director of Advancement Services > > Office of Advancement > > AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY > > 1120 15th Street, FI-1045 > > Augusta, GA 30912 > > t: 706-721-0063 > > f: 706-721-1641 > > > > Help make our data even better – send updates to ADVOPS@augusta.edu. > > > > *This e-mail and its attachments are confidential, intended only for the > named recipient(s) above, and may contain information that is proprietary. > If you have received this message in error or are not a named recipient, > please notify the sender immediately at the above number and delete the > e-mail message from your computer. Thank you.* > > > > > > > > *From:* Advancement Services Discussion List < > FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> *On Behalf Of *Nancy Randazzo > *Sent:* Friday, August 16, 2019 1:40 PM > *To:* FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG > *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] [FUNDSVCS] DAF payments and double counting > > > CAUTION: EXTERNAL SENDER > > *This email originated from an external source. Please exercise caution > before opening attachments, clicking links, replying, or providing > information to the sender. If you believe it to be fraudulent, contact the > AU Cybersecurity Hotline at 1-SAFE (706-721-7233) or stopspam@augusta.edu > <stopspam@augusta.edu>* > > > ------------------------------ > > Friends, > > > > We have recently been looking at the effect of writing down pledges when > an unanticipated payment from a donor’s DAF comes in. When the pledge is > counted and reported in one fiscal year and the DAF contribution is > received during the next fiscal year, if we write down or cancel the > original pledge and count the DAF contribution, some or all of the original > pledge is counted twice. While the overall numbers year over year are > accurate, the reporting for the year in which the original pledge was > booked remains overstated. > > > > Example: Pledge booked in FY18 and we don’t expect it to be > paid with DAF - $50K counted in annual fundraising total for FY18 > > DAF “pays” pledge in FY19 – original > pledge canceled, $50K from DAF counted in annual fundraising total for FY19 > > > > How do others handle this? > > > > *Nancy* > > > > *Nancy Randazzo* > > Director, Gift and Fund Administration > > *University of Montana Foundation * > > Office: 406.243.2593 | Direct: 406.243-4739 > > *CampaignMontana.org* <https://www.campaignmontana.org/>* | Think Big. Be > Bold.* > > > > *The UM Foundation inspires philanthropic support to enhance excellence > and opportunity at the University of Montana.* > > > > CONFIDENTIALITY: This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain > confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized > disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, > please notify the sender and delete this e-mail from your system. Thank you. > > > >

If we are talking about a situation here where pledges are being discussed in the context of already set up processes and ongoing operations, then in this context, I agree that I would not change pledge strategy drastically to filter pledges, because there's cost involved of re-engineering all the related reports and processes etc. In regards with giving credit to people about their work done towards pledges, the strategy described earlier can be used to still calculate those. That said, the model of filtering pledges and the model of including them are two distinct models. *Medha Nanal* *Strategic Data & CRM Consulting for Nonprofit & Education Organizations* (Fundraising/Advancement, Programs, Operations, Communications) 650-600-9374 www.topcloudconsult.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On Sun, Aug 18, 2019 at 10:20 AM Isaac Shalev <isaac@sage70.com> wrote: > Bill, agreed. The trouble with pledge suppression strategies are numerous. > For one, canned reports typically all need to be re-written, which can be > hundreds of reports. For two, as you point out, from a stewardship > perspective, what matters is converting donors and nailing down gift > intentions. The mechanics of payment can't be allowed to wag this dog. > > > Thank you, > Isaac Shalev > CRM Expert > Sage70, Inc. > (917) 859-0151 > isaac@sage70.com > > Schedule a *30-minute consultation *now: > https://calendly.com/sage70/30min > > > On Fri, Aug 16, 2019 at 2:25 PM Bill Wong <wswong@scad.edu> wrote: > >> I’d be surprised to learn that many Advancement offices work this way. My >> experience has been exactly the opposite. We count pledges and ignore the >> payments on those pledges. That way, we give staff credit for the work >> they’ve done in the timeframes in which they did the work.—Bill >> >> >> >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> >> >> Your mileage may vary depending on your CRM, but reports should be >> created to exclude pledges and only include paid donations. When a pledge >> is paid for, you change the status on the donation to "posted" or >> "completed" or something to that effect, and during report creation, >> carefully include only those donations with status reflective of having >> been paid fully. >> >> >> >> *Medha Nanal* >> >> >> >> *Strategic Data & CRM Consulting for Nonprofit & Education Organizations* >> >> (Fundraising/Advancement, Programs, Operations, Communications) >> >> >> >> 650-600-9374 >> >> www.topcloudconsult.com >> >> >> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- >> >> >> >> >> >> On Fri, Aug 16, 2019 at 11:17 AM Dotson, Michael <MIDOTSON@augusta.edu> >> wrote: >> >> We use RE 7 and we code DAF payments with an attribute to permit us to >> exclude them from fundraising reports. >> >> >> >> >> >> [image: cid:image001.png@01D18E89.6C83DD60] >> >> *Michael S. Dotson, Ph.D., bCRE-Pro* >> >> Senior Director of Advancement Services >> >> Office of Advancement >> >> AUGUSTA UNIVERSITY >> >> 1120 15th Street, FI-1045 >> >> Augusta, GA 30912 >> >> t: 706-721-0063 >> >> f: 706-721-1641 >> >> >> >> Help make our data even better – send updates to ADVOPS@augusta.edu. >> >> >> >> *This e-mail and its attachments are confidential, intended only for the >> named recipient(s) above, and may contain information that is proprietary. >> If you have received this message in error or are not a named recipient, >> please notify the sender immediately at the above number and delete the >> e-mail message from your computer. Thank you.* >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> *From:* Advancement Services Discussion List < >> FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG> *On Behalf Of *Nancy Randazzo >> *Sent:* Friday, August 16, 2019 1:40 PM >> *To:* FUNDSVCS@LISTSERV.FUNDSVCS.ORG >> *Subject:* [EXTERNAL] [FUNDSVCS] DAF payments and double counting >> >> >> CAUTION: EXTERNAL SENDER >> >> *This email originated from an external source. Please exercise caution >> before opening attachments, clicking links, replying, or providing >> information to the sender. If you believe it to be fraudulent, contact the >> AU Cybersecurity Hotline at 1-SAFE (706-721-7233) or stopspam@augusta.edu >> <stopspam@augusta.edu>* >> >> >> ------------------------------ >> >> Friends, >> >> >> >> We have recently been looking at the effect of writing down pledges when >> an unanticipated payment from a donor’s DAF comes in. When the pledge is >> counted and reported in one fiscal year and the DAF contribution is >> received during the next fiscal year, if we write down or cancel the >> original pledge and count the DAF contribution, some or all of the original >> pledge is counted twice. While the overall numbers year over year are >> accurate, the reporting for the year in which the original pledge was >> booked remains overstated. >> >> >> >> Example: Pledge booked in FY18 and we don’t expect it to be >> paid with DAF - $50K counted in annual fundraising total for FY18 >> >> DAF “pays” pledge in FY19 – original >> pledge canceled, $50K from DAF counted in annual fundraising total for FY19 >> >> >> >> How do others handle this? >> >> >> >> *Nancy* >> >> >> >> *Nancy Randazzo* >> >> Director, Gift and Fund Administration >> >> *University of Montana Foundation * >> >> Office: 406.243.2593 | Direct: 406.243-4739 >> >> *CampaignMontana.org* <https://www.campaignmontana.org/>* | Think Big. >> Be Bold.* >> >> >> >> *The UM Foundation inspires philanthropic support to enhance excellence >> and opportunity at the University of Montana.* >> >> >> >> CONFIDENTIALITY: This e-mail (including any attachments) may contain >> confidential, proprietary and privileged information, and unauthorized >> disclosure or use is prohibited. If you received this e-mail in error, >> please notify the sender and delete this e-mail from your system. Thank you. >> >> >> >>

Hey, there, It sounds to me like there are some things going on behind the scenes or assumptions that haven't been explicitly stated. I have seen this scenario before: pledge is made by donor and it is counted in fundraising and campaign reports. A "surprise" gift via the donor's DAF comes in to be applied to the pledge. Because of the previous restriction on DAF payments being applied to pledges, often the pledge gets written off in the amount of the DAF payment, and the DAF payment is then entered as an outright gift. The problem is that what everybody would prefer is that the DAF payment be a true pledge payment and the original pledge not be written down, as it plays havoc with reporting and general confusion from users about what's going on. I have seen the solution Michael Dotson mentions, where the DAF payment is tagged so it doesn't get pulled into reports as an outright gift because it is "really" a pledge payment. All of that is a work around to try to not technically pay a pledge with a DAF gift. Hopefully, some of this will be alleviated by the IRS ruling that as long as there are not tangible benefits involved, it is okay to pay a personal pledge with a DAF distribution (https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-17-73.pdf and also https://www.nptrust.org/philanthropic-resources/philanthropist/can-i-use-my-daf-for-that/). The other thing that can help is educating donors at the time the pledge is made that there are certain limitations regarding DAFs, and asking if they intend to use their DAF to fulfill the commitment. Wendy Jaccard Bentz Whaley Flessner wjaccard@bwf.com